


I'm Not Where I'm Meant To Be

by Aria_Lerendeair



Series: Aria's SH Bingo Fics 2020 - 2021 [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: A Distracting Amount of Worldbuilding, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angel Alec Lightwood, BAMF Alec Lightwood, BAMF Magnus Bane, Immortal Husbands, Light Angst, M/M, Magical Soulbond, Prince of Hell Magnus Bane, Slight sprinkling of memories being buried - but everyone remembers, Soul Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 13:53:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30005883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aria_Lerendeair/pseuds/Aria_Lerendeair
Summary: It's been a century since Magnus returned to Edom through the Rift above Alicante.  He wears a ring and can only barely remember the shadowhunter who gave it to him as he rules the kingdom meant for him, and spends his decades warring with Lilith.  It is a bleak, but constant existence.It's been a week since Alec watched Magnus go through the portal to Edom.  He has spent that time tirelessly searching for a way to Edom, but once he arrives there, Magnus barely recognizes him.Together, they find a way to go home.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Aria's SH Bingo Fics 2020 - 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2207280
Comments: 57
Kudos: 357





	I'm Not Where I'm Meant To Be

**Author's Note:**

> So it's about high time I got started on my bingo fics for this year, don't you think? With that, we're going to tackle my first square - Immortality! 
> 
> Here's the prompt from Sapph I used as a SHAMELESS excuse to write BAMF Magnus and Alec: 
> 
> This is a picture I've had in my head for some time; hopefully one of you lovely people finds it inspiring and makes something beautiful with it.
> 
> The story diverges from 3x21 right when Alec enters Asmodeus' palace, where Magnus has set up court, and of course, Alec is running full speed, trying to get to Magnus as fast as possible, but Magnus raises a finger in a silent, imperious command, halt, and Alec is focused on Magnus with everything in his being, so of course, he obeys, even though he wants nothing more than to erase the distance between him and Magnus. He locks his arms behind his back and settles into a parade rest, trying not to lean forward too obviously. 
> 
> Unbeknownst to Alec, it's been nearly a century for Magnus, because of how time flows differently between dimensions. There's a cold, ruthless glint in his eyes that's grown over the years he's spent holding back Lilith's forces, waging a war with no end, and in spite of the ring on his finger, he's half convinced that his mortal Shadowhunter lover was a dream, or a fiction, or dead by now. Even so, he's curious, because who dares enter his palace unannounced, not on guard despite bearing arms? 
> 
> "Alexander," Magnus says, testing the word out on his tongue, feeling the syllables out as though they're unfamiliar, and obviously that shakes Alec, because Magnus saying his name should be the easiest thing in the world. 
> 
> Alec nods.
> 
> I'm really not sure how their conversation goes, but I have a vivid image of Magnus stroking Alec's cheek almost curiously, and Alec doing his best to hold himself back from showing all his desperation and affection.

  
Alec raced up the steps, taking them two or three at a time, his heart pounding as he tore around the corners of the decrepit castle. This was where Magnus was living? This was where Magnus had grown up? This had been his _home?_ How long had he been trapped here when he was younger before he'd managed to break free from Asmodeus? 

  
With a growl, Alec launched himself up another staircase, the voice of the others behind him long since faded, warning him to slow down, to stop. But he wouldn't wait for one more second to see Magnus again. Not a single second. The sight of an open door at the top of the stairs had his heart surging into his mouth and he nearly slid through the door, catching sight of Magnus, reclining on the throne, his magic swirling around him in lazy circles. 

  
"Magnus-"

  
When Magnus held up a hand, Alec froze, his chest heaving, but he waited, nearly vibrating in place, drinking in the sight of his fiancee, angels, _his fiancee,_ how did that still not seem real? He was speaking to the demons in front of him, his voice harsh and grating, his magic gathering around his palms in a clear threat. The familiar sight had his chest aching and Alec wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around Magnus and never let go of him. 

  
After what felt like an eternity, the demons were dismissed and Alec took a step forward, freezing under the bright, golden glint of Magnus' eyes. He started to smile and took another step forward. _"Magnus,"_ he breathed. "You're here, you're safe." 

  
~!~

  
Magnus had known, long ago, decades, a century or more now, that he had lived on earth. That he had taken a shadowhunter lover, and they had loved each other with a fierceness unrivaled by any other love in his life. It was that same lover who had given him the ring he never removed. But after he had sealed the rift and locked himself into Edom permanently, after he had been alone for years, then decades, he had forgotten him. It had been better than... _remembering._

  
His lover would have found love again, would have found another, who could stay with him, who was not bound to a realm of Hell that was his to rule. 

  
And yet...

  
Magnus studied the Nephilim standing only feet away from him, his cheeks flushed, his hazel eyes wide, his whole body trembling faintly where he stood. The same Nephilim who breathed out his name as though it were a prayer he was all too ready to drop to his knees for. Few would dare to enter his palace unannounced, but even fewer of the Nephil race, who preferred to leave the realms of Hell to the demons they contained. 

  
He stood up slowly, taking steps closer to the Nephilim who stood in his throne room as though he were _certain_ of his welcome, as though he _knew_ that he had a right to be there, just as much as Magnus himself. 

  
Magnus looked down at the ring on his finger, the ring that he had never removed, even as he left behind the world, the family that had been his. He was a Royal, and he had duties that had to be attended to. Lifting his eyes back to the Nephilim, he tilted his head and watched the smile on the face in front of him start to fall. 

  
_"Alexander,"_ he breathed, and the word ached, and carried with it the pain of buried decades. He saw the Nephilim, Alexander, nod at him, his eyes wide and slowly filling with fear. Not fear of him, no, he would _smell_ that stink on him if it was. But the fear of something else, of something deeper that he appeared to have lost. 

  
"Magnus," Alec breathed. "What, are you all right?" 

  
Magnus should have laughed at the impertinent question. But the sheer _earnestness_ of the question, the desire to know the answer, the lack of any sycophancy to the question... This person, this Nephilim did want to know if there was something wrong. "Of course," he said, his tone hard. 

  
The Nephilim, Alexander, took a step closer to him, and Magnus didn't step back, frowning at him. This close, he could see the exhaustion on the face in front of him, and the twinging reminder deep in his chest and his magic told him that he knew this face. That he had once known those exhaustion lines as well as his own. But how was that possible? If this was him, the one who had given him the ring, how was he still alive? 

  
"Magnus," Alec breathed, reaching out to touch him, his fingers barely brushing the dark velvet jacket sleeve he was wearing. "Magnus, it's me, it's Alec. You know me, right? You, you know who I am?" 

  
Magnus frowned and stared at the anxiety that was slowly overtaking those hazel eyes, the steadily growing panic. He reached out and slowly dragged his fingers down those cheekbones sharp enough that he could cut himself. He smiled faintly at the reminder and dragged them down, and along the line of his jaw. "Somehow," he agreed, his voice soft. "I do." He tilted his head. 

  
"You are a memory long buried, an impossible thought come to life. A shadow of a former life I have long had to release any traces of," Magnus continued, staring at him. He looked down at his ring again and lifted his hand, showing it to the shadowhunter. "You gave me this, didn't you?" 

  
Alec swallowed. "I did," he managed, his voice hoarse. "You, you asked me to marry you, and I said yes. I said yes, Magnus, only if you'd marry me too, and you put this ring on me, and I put the ring on you and-"

  
Magnus could remember, the fight to leave the memories buried one he was rapidly losing. He could remember the pain of stepping into Edom herself again, the pain of closing the rift, and agony of the knowledge that he would be alone forever, only memories to sustain him for however long he lived. He could allow himself to remember, to breathe in the pain as though it was still fresh, but he didn't. 

  
"How are you alive?" Magnus asked, frowning at the Nephilim. "How are you still alive? What did you become? Why have you come for me now, after all this time?" His voice edged into a growl. "Let me guess, there is some trouble, as there always is in your world?"

  
Alec didn't flinch back, but it was a close thing. "Wh, Magnus? What are you talking about? I'm still me. I haven't become anything." Even though he'd considered it, many times over while they were preparing to descend into Edom. He took a deep breath and ordered himself to focus on Magnus again, at those golden eyes that were narrowed at him in suspicion. "It's, I know it's been a week, but we got here as soon as we could, we were always going to come for you." 

  
"A week?" Magnus laughed, his head falling back as he turned away from the shadowhunter and stalked to his throne. "Do not presume to think me a fool, Nephilim. How many years have passed above?" 

  
Alec's eyes widened and he looked around the room. "Magnus, fuck, how long have you been here? How long has it been for you?" 

  
Magnus hummed and looked out the window at the sky that was no longer torn open by a rift, where Lilith waited in her infinite patience. "It took me decades to close the rift, and after that, when you are locked in an infinite battle, who knows how the years drift by." 

  
"Decades-" Alec choked on the word and walked towards the throne again, where Magnus was sprawled, his whole body laid out. "Magnus, you've been trapped here for decades?" 

  
"I suspect it's closer to a century since I have last seen you," Magnus said conversationally. His eyes dropped to the ring that bore his magic that the shadowhunter still wore. "Why are you here? Why now?" 

  
Alec stared at Magnus. "I was always going to come for you, Magnus. Nothing was going to stop me, not a single thing." When Magnus looked at him, Alec straightened his spine and stared back at him, fierce and certain. "I didn't care if I needed to stay here with you for the rest of my life. I love you, and I was never going to leave you alone again." 

  
Magnus frowned and watched the Nephilim continue to stare at him. Even like this, with the distance between them, he could _feel_ the conviction ripple off the shadowhunter as though it were a physical touch. "You love me," he said, his voice low. 

  
_"Yes,"_ Alec said, keeping the fierceness in his voice. "And you love me, just as much. You asked me to marry you, and we are going to do that. We're going to get married, and Madzie is going to be the flower girl, and Catarina your best man." 

  
Magnus tilted his head, slowly, the names invoking vague, nebulous images as he brought them up. The lonely, gaping ache that he had once buried under the weight of his power started to rear its head and he frowned. "Why are you here?" 

  
"I'm here to take you back home," Alec growled. "Or I am going to stay here with you." 

  
Magnus shifted, sitting upright once again, studying the Nephilim in front of him. "You aren't lying." 

  
Alec shook his head. "No, I'm not lying. If you have to stay here, I will stay with you." 

  
"You have a family," Magnus said, even though he didn't remember them beyond shadows, he knew his statement to be true. "You would abandon them." 

  
"No," Alec snapped. "I would be _with_ my family. You are my family, Magnus. I would be with you, and I would never be upset about that." 

  
Magnus stared at him, at the desperation that was growing in him minute to minute, and stood again. "You cannot mean that," he breathed, some of the old, too-familiar pain lancing through him. 

  
Alec stared at him, his hands clenched into fists, and tried to breathe through the pain of Magnus not believing, not remembering him. "Come here. I'll show you," he ordered. 

  
Magnus raised both of his eyebrows. "How do you plan to do that, Nephilim?" 

  
"I'm going to show you my memories," Alec said, waiting for Magnus to step closer. "I'll guide us." 

  
Magnus lifted his hands and paused, frowning. "You trust me to do this?" 

  
Alec smiled. "I trust you to do anything, Magnus. I love you." He closed his eyes and waited until Magnus' fingertips touched his temples and then they were flying through a kaleidoscope of his memories. 

  
Magnus stepped in closer, even as the Nephilim started to pull him through the memories, and one after another, they bled by, and he looked at himself, happy, sad, laughing, crying, loving, being with Alexander. He saw their lives play out through the memories that flashed by, felt the joy that Alec had in each and every single one of the memories. 

  
And then, they came to his leaving. At the sight of him stepping into the portal for Edom, Magnus was nearly swarmed by the grief that flooded the shadowhunter. But it didn't last long, and soon it was replaced by a single-handed determination that astonished him and didn't 't all in the same measure. Alexander researched, demanded, bribed, and bought his way into a trip to Edom over the course of the next week, and Magnus felt a tear slide down his cheek as he followed Alec through his realm, up until he saw Magnus again, his soul lighting up incandescently. 

  
Magnus pulled his fingers away, breathing too hard for him to try to focus, and stepped away, trying to wipe at his face before the Nephilim could see. He hadn't been lying, he had been working tirelessly to come here, to join him here, to help him, and...

  
_"Magnus,"_ Alec breathed, reaching out to touch Magnus on the arms gently. "We're here to bring you home." 

  
Magnus opened his eyes and let the wall he'd built up and around the memories of his shadowhunter come crashing down all at once, flooding him. He gasped, the sound wet and agonized, and then he was being wrapped in Alec's arms and held tight like he had known he would never get to experience again. He sank his fingers into Alec's hair, tugging at the strands, tears falling in faster and faster tracks down his face. Alexander had come for him, hadn't _forgotten_ him, hadn't _abandoned_ him alone to the sands of Edom. 

  
"I'm here," Alec breathed, holding onto Magnus tightly. "I'm here, Magnus, and I'm never going to let you be alone again." 

  
Magnus wanted to laugh at the ludicrousness of that statement, but once again, Alec's conviction was something that he envied in every possible way. "Alexander," he whispered, and felt Alec sag against him. 

  
"There you are," Alec breathed, pulling back just enough to meet Magnus' eyes again. Now they were bright with recognition and he surged in for a desperate kiss, melting into his arms until they had to break apart for air so they could desperately cling to each other. "Fuck, I'm so sorry, I didn't know that it would take so long, Magnus. I got here as fast as I could, I swear, I never would have let you go if I'd known-"

  
"It's all right," Magnus breathed out, pressing his face to Alec's neck. Even though it wasn't. Even though it was the furthest thing from all right, now that Alexander was here, he could let the weight of being a Royal fall off of him. "It's all right, Alexander, I promise." 

  
Alec laughed and held onto Magnus even tighter. "It's all right in ways that you don't even know, Magnus." 

  
Magnus pulled back to frown up at him. "What does that mean?" 

  
Alec cupped Magnus' hands. "It means I am here, we're here to fight Lilith. To defeat her, and to bring you home." He looked up at the sky, where there was no rift. "We're going to do it together." 

  
"We?" Magnus breathed. 

  
Like the words had been a summons, he saw Catarina step through the door, followed by Isabelle, Clary, Simon, Meliorn, and Jace. He sagged in relief and grinned at all of them. "Pretty ragged rescue party if you ask me," he managed, and the humor felt good, felt more like himself, rather than what he had had to become to rule Edom. 

  
Catarina stepped forward and cleared her throat. "Magnus, Edom is falling apart." 

  
Magnus faced her and nodded. "It must be, if the time differential is that large," he agreed, breathing out a slow breath. "It's likely under the weight of my power and Lilith's. We're tearing it apart between us." 

  
"How can we defeat her?" Clary asked. 

  
Magnus looked out across the plain, where he knew Lilith's castle stood, and considered it. "A direct confrontation is unlikely to go well for all of us, no matter what we try to do." He looked up at the skies of Edom and closed his eyes, sinking into the power that existed around him and the rest of the realm. Alec's arms tightened around him in reassurance, and a spark of an idea hit him. 

  
He opened his eyes again and turned to look at them. "I might have an idea..." he paused and turned to look at Alec. "But it's going to have some repercussions." 

  
Alec leaned down to kiss Magnus, hard and quick. "I don't care. I'm not leaving your side, no matter what." 

  
Magnus looked at Alexander and started to smile faintly before he turned to look at the others. "We need to take a quick trip." He summoned a portal for all of them and reached out to take Alexander's hand. The feel of the ring on his hand had him gasping and shuddering, but he stepped through. 

  
They were standing on the edge of a huge crater and Magnus breathed in, slow and deep, the power so thick in the air that it was almost visible around all of them. 

  
"Magnus," Catarina grunted, struggling to stand upright like the shadowhunters. "What is this place?" 

  
"The Heart of Edom," Magnus said, looking down at the crater. "From where her power draws an endless well. The pain of an archangel, stripped of their wings, and Fallen, to become a Prince instead, of all those who existed in this realm." He stepped out at the edge of it. "This is where he crashed to the sand."   


  
Alec stepped up beside Magnus and felt some of the power start to gather around Magnus. "What is your plan?" 

  
Magnus breathed out slowly. "The power is too angelic for me to be able to absorb all of it. It's this pool that Lilith and I have been pulling from." He looked to Alexander and smiled faintly. "But if I were to pull the power into myself with the help of another... the realm would collapse around Lilith." 

  
"You want to destroy Edom?" Simon said with a gasp. "How the hell are we supposed to help with that?" 

  
Magnus was glad when Alec stepped up closer to him. "Behind me. You're going to hold onto me from behind. I need both my hands," he ordered, glad when Alec stepped into place without question. After that was finished, he turned his attention back to Simon. 

  
"Your job," Magnus said, looking to all of them. "Is going to be to keep the demons Lilith sends away from me for long enough that I can finish what I need to do. Catarina's going to keep you alive long enough to manage it." 

  
"Oh yeah," Catarina said, adjusting the pack at her side. "Give me the easy job." 

  
Magnus shared a grin with her and turned back to the pool of pulsating and invisible power in front of him. "Alec?" he asked, reaching out to touch it. 

  
"I don't care," Alec breathed against Magnus' neck. "Whatever it does to me, does to us, I don't care. I'm going to protect you with everything in me, and I'll help you however I can." 

  
Magnus swallowed and twisted just enough to steal a kiss. "I love you," he breathed against Alec's lips before he turned back to the magic in front of him. With a quick flick of his fingertips, the ground beneath them began to roar. He breathed in deep, inhaling the magic that was answering his call. 

  
_**"Your King Calls,"** _he snarled, his eyes blazing gold. _**"And You Answer!"**_

  
Magnus watched the ground in front of him erupt into a mix of fire and shadow, all of it coalescing in front of him, the twisted visage of Edom herself, answering his summons, his demand, reaching for him, diving into him as the power poured into the cup he had made of himself. Behind him, Alec jolted and maybe screamed, but he didn't let go. 

  
Far away, too far to stop what he had started, Magnus felt Lilith scream in rage, but he kept his attention on draining the pool in front of him, greedily absorbing all he could of her power, letting the pure angelic energy bleed into Alexander. Alec was burning white-hot with angelic power, and Magnus could feel the way his soul was screaming in agony, but he held on and did not let go. 

  
When the first demons arrived, Magnus paid them no attention, continuing to pull more and more of the power into him, until the realm began to tremble and shake apart, mountain peaks toppling to the ground as though they had never existed in the first place. The sound of the fight behind him only got louder, but Magnus did not allow himself to focus on it, clawing at the power in front of him, pulling it into him, even though it burned, with every piece he drew in, it raced through him, magical fire burning him in a way normal fire never could. 

  
His name was shouted again and again, but Magnus did not stop, could not stop, even as the realm cried out in pain from his pulling of her power until she began to fracture at the very edges. Magnus breathed out a prayer for her as at last, he reached the bottom of the pool, the Seed waiting for him. He reached for it, the glistening drop of pure angelic power, the piece of his father that had been ripped from him once he had fallen. The Heart of Edom. 

  
Magnus closed his hand around the faintly pulsing light and felt his hand begin to sizzle, about to let go because it was too much, too raw, too powerful when another hand rapidly closed around his. He fixed his eyes on the matching ring he could see on that hand. _Alexander._ Alexander was holding it with him, they weren't going to let go. With an agonizing breath, Magnus shifted his hold and smashed it between their palms. The power shot into him and Alec, the both of them screaming, falling back from the pool, onto the brick dust of Edom, writhing in pain. 

  
_**"Catarina,"**_ Magnus shouted, his eyes clouding over in pain. "Out, get us out, out!" he barely managed the words before the light in his eyes was starting to darken. As the last of the brick red sky started to fade, Magnus saw the golden light of a portal being summoned, and the feel of someone's arms around him, before he lost himself to the sea that he had willingly drowned himself in. 

  
~!~

  
When Magnus woke up, his magic no longer felt as though it would drown him, which was a decided improvement. He was also laying on sheets that were so soft he thought he'd imagined what they felt like. He closed his eyes, savoring the touch for a long moment before someone clearing their throat interrupted him. He growled and opened a single eye, staring at Catarina. 

  
"Don't give me that look," Catarina snapped, crossing her arms over his chest. "Next time you can have someone else save your ass when you collapse an entire realm of hell around them." 

  
Magnus blew out a slow breath, inhaling, his chest aching with the weight of the magic he could feel in him. _"Alec,"_ he whispered. "Where's Alec?" 

  
Catarina stared at him and frowned. "He's alive, if that's what you're asking. No thanks to whatever you did to him, Magnus." She sighed and slumped. "But he also told me that you were trapped there for almost a hundred years before we were able to get to you." 

  
Magnus nodded and was glad when she waited for only another second before wrapping him up in a tight hug he hadn't even realized that he had needed. But the mention of Alec had him reaching out to the magic tether between them, only to find it closed on the other end. He frowned. 

  
"Before you worry," Catarina said. "I had him block the bond because your body learning to assimilate your power kept making him unable to move. He's going to open it again as soon as you're up." 

  
"I'm up," Magnus grumbled. "Now where is he?" 

  
Catarina raised her eyebrows. "I believe he's tendering his formal resignation as Head of the New York Institute to the Inquisitor at the moment." 

  
Magnus stared at her, his heart dropping in shock. "He's what? _Why?"_

  
"You'll have to ask him that, but I promise it's a good thing. The Clave isn't coming after him. They wouldn't dare, now," Catarina said, smiling faintly. "Now, let's get you showered, your skincare routine done, and if you ask me very nicely, I'll help you pick out an outfit." 

  
"I love you," Magnus said to her, leaning on her as he managed to get to his feet. While they hobbled to the bathroom, he cleared his throat and offered. "Thank you for coming for me, Catarina." 

  
Catarina huffed and got the both of them to the bathroom. "I will always come for you, you idiot," she grumbled, turning the shower on. "Now get in, I'll help keep you upright." 

  
Magnus was glad when she snapped away his clothes and offered her magic for him to lean on as he stepped under the spray with a groan. He'd forgotten the touch of water and how luxurious it could be. 

  
He stood under the spray for what felt like hours upon hours, letting the weight of everything he'd shouldered in Edom fall off of him, until Catarina was turning the water off. Getting through the rest of his routine, dressing again, it was liberating and slowly, piece by piece, he felt himself smiling easier and much more readily at her. Now all he needed was Alexander, to see and make sure that he was all right. That nothing had changed too much. 

  
A familiar ping at his wards had him heading for the living room, even as Alec stepped through the front door without stopping. The second Magnus was able to look at him, he realized exactly what had happened. He stared at Alexander, his eyes wide, and swore, turning to Catarina. "He's..."

  
"Yeah," Alec said, brushing his fingers through his hair. "It's weird," he added. He blinked slowly and rolled his shoulders, stretching and relaxing under Magnus' wards. "Especially since I have to keep the power leashed whenever I'm outside the wards, because it scares the hell out of everyone." 

  
Magnus stared at his, his fiancee, and the Heart of Edom, the Seed of pure angelic energy that was nestled in the center of Alexander, and the sheer _power_ that radiated from every single inch of him as a result. "Well," he managed, his voice hoarse. "That was not what I originally intended." 

  
"What?" Alec said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "You didn't mean to turn me into a full-fledged angel?" He started to grin. "Pretty sure that no one was expecting that to happen, Magnus." 

  
Magnus swallowed hard, staring at him. "The Heart, I thought I'd destroyed it," he whispered. "I thought we'd destroyed it." 

  
Alec shook his head. "Apparently you tried, and it hid in the nearest refuge that it could find. Which, considering the fact that I'm a Nephilim, was, well. _Me."_

  
Magnus blinked. Then blinked again. "You're an angel," he repeated, his voice soft. 

  
"Yup!" Alec said, stretching slowly. "Apparently that caused quite the drama with a few of the other angels. If I thought Clave politics were bad, it's got nothing on the bomb we just dropped on Heaven itself." 

  
Magnus sat down on the edge of his couch, still staring at Alec, his eyes wide. "You're not angry," he observed. 

  
Alec shrugged and made his way over to the couch, nodding at Catarina as she let herself out. He sat down next to Magnus and reached out to take his hand. "I can't change it. Ripping out the Seed would kill me." 

  
Magnus breathed out slowly, closing his eyes, tightening his hand around Alec's. "I didn't intend for that to happen. To, to give you more power, to maybe tie us together, yes. But not this. I didn't intend for you to, to, to give up everything you loved." 

  
_"Magnus,"_ Alec said, fighting to keep down a smile. "I didn't lose anything." He leaned in and pressed his forehead against Magnus' shoulder. "I'm going to open the bond. Hold on." 

  
Magnus was glad Alec warned him because the sudden flood of joy, love, and happiness would have overwhelmed him. As it was, he struggled to right himself under the tidal wave of emotion from Alec until it ebbed down to a reasonable flow, the emotions surging between the both of them. When he opened his eyes again, he realized he had been crying. "Alec..." 

  
"I'm happy," Alec breathed. "I have as long as you want Magnus. We can be together for as long as we want to be." 

  
Magnus wanted to laugh, even as he tightened his hand on Alec's again, his magic reaching out to touch Alec's, unable to keep from grinning when Alec's magic surged towards his, the two melding and dancing together. "As long as you'll have me," he breathed, leaning in to press his face against Alec's hair. "But the Institute..."

  
Alec grinned and lifted his head up to look at Magnus. "Funny thing. I got a bit of a promotion. Since I now have a direct line to the angels themselves, but I'm obviously not welcome up there, I ah, offered them a deal." 

  
Magnus raised both of his eyebrows and started to laugh. "You negotiated with the _Angels,_ Alexander?" 

  
"Yeah," Alec said, unable to keep from grinning wider. "I asked if they were all happy with the murder that the Circle had done in their name and if that's what they wanted their legacy to be. Since it obviously wasn't, the solution was to have me, the one who can walk between both words, communicate exactly what that legacy should be." 

  
"Alec," Magnus managed, still laughing, his mind spinning at the implications of the role Alec would now play in their world. "You can't-" 

  
"But I _can,"_ Alec corrected, his voice soft. "I can, and I am going to, Magnus." 

  
Magnus blinked his eyes, wet, watery, and threatening to ruin his eyeliner as he stared at Alec. "You're sure?" 

  
Alec leaned in to kiss Magnus. "The only thing I am more sure of is the fact that I am going to spend forever with you." He paused and rubbed their noses together. "After we're married, of course." 

  
Magnus grinned and leaned into the kiss, humming softly as he moved closer to Alec. “Getting married first sounds great, Alexander.” He gave Alec’s lower lip a nip. “But if I may make a suggestion?” 

  
Alec raised both of his eyebrows. “And what’s that?” 

  
“Celebrating our engagement first?”

  
Alec tugged Magnus up and off the couch, and to the bedroom. “That I am more than happy to do.” He pulled Magnus in for another kiss after they had both tumbled to the golden sheets. “I love you,” he whispered. “I will  _ always _ love you.” 

  
Magnus pulled Alec in for a desperate kiss, thinking of the century he had spent burying the pain of losing Alec, realizing, slowly, that he would never have to go through that pain again. “I love you too, Alexander. Forever.” 

  
After more than a century trapped and alone, forever sounded like heaven. A heaven found exclusively in Alexander’s arms. Magnus smiled and kissed Alec again, letting him be lost in the waves of love sweeping through the bond. 

  
Forever with this man, his angel? _Perfect._

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Criticisms welcome!
> 
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> 
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